Finding of the week #193

Between Frustration and Excitement

During my ongoing literature review I often discover interesting facts about things I’ve never thought about. Sometimes I can connect these facts with my own observations: The result is mostly a completely new idea why things are as they are. Maybe these ideas are new to you, too. Therefore I’ll share my new science based knowledge with you!

This week: This time, I think about my struggle of constantly having issues during virtual races and the motivational effects of the game that keep me going despite my negative experiences.

Since I joined the Conelanders Assetto Corsa League, things have not worked out so well for me. Aside from a few top-10 finishes, I never had a race I was really content with. The reasons for this are quite simple but yet very complex.

The probably main problem was that I rarely had the chance to spend a high amount of time practicing the race tracks which resulted in a huge disadvantage concerning the overall pace. Most of the time, I was, depending on the track, 3 – 8 seconds slower than the fast drivers. In addition, the lack of practice increased the chances of making a mistake or being overtaken by another car. Furthermore, my slower pace was also problematic when I lost contact with a group of cars due to an incident as I was not able to catch up with them again.

The other main reason for my mediocre results was the high amount of race incidents I was involved in. During the majority of the races I was spun out at least once by another driver who tried to overtake me at a place where it is not possible or in a way that was just too aggressive. Being spun out not only broke my concentration but also resulted in a huge loss of time and, due to my lack of speed, to a loss of contact with the other drivers. As soon as I was spun out during a race, the chances for a decent finish were ruined already.

In the end, I was frequently frustrated after a race weekend as I rarely managed to complete my personal goal of having a clean race which then could easily have resulted in a top-10 finish. As a result of this, I often was questioning myself if I should not stop participating in those races.

However, as participating in such a Conelanders race as well as driving a virtual race car in general always resulted in me playing at the very edge of my skill level, I was all the time motivated to compete in the next race despite all the negative experiences I made during the previous race again. As soon as I calmed down and overcame the frustration caused by the last race, I accepted the challenge of racing anew.

As a conclusion, the struggle between frustration and excitement is a prime example for the motivational effects of flow. Assetto Corsa as well as the Conelanders League provide me with a clear goal, new (or better the same as I never exhausted one) challenges and a constant feedback. In addition, the activity of racing exactly matches my personal skill level thus resulting in me being completely immersed in the gameplay.

Unfortunately, the motivational effects start to decline as I constantly encounter the same issues over and over again. Although flow has a huge motivational effect, it can not overcome a constant stream of disappointments and needs to be backed up with some successes. Hopefully, this will happen in the next race …

… challenge accepted!

Finding of the week #192

Transport Fever

During my ongoing literature review I often discover interesting facts about things I’ve never thought about. Sometimes I can connect these facts with my own observations: The result is mostly a completely new idea why things are as they are. Maybe these ideas are new to you, too. Therefore I’ll share my new science based knowledge with you!

This week: This time, I think about the release of Transport Fever which brought back great memories of playing Transport Tycoon about 20 years ago.

One of the first games I played for a really long time was Transport Tycoon which was developed by Chris Sawyer and got published in 1994 by MicroProse. The game challenged the players to manage a transport company during the time from 1930 to 2030 by setting up efficient transportation lines in order to transport goods from one place to another. For this purpose, players had access to various road vehicles, trains, ships as well as planes and were able to develop a map’s infrastructure by building rail lines, streets, harbors and airports. Furthermore, the historic development of technologies played a central role in the game as new and more efficent vehicles got developed and released as time progressed in the game.

Personally, I was mostly attracted by the game as it allowed me to use different transportational means instead of just focussing on a single technology like trains in Railroad Tycoon. In addition, I found it very interesting to learn more about historic locomotives and airplanes by playing this business simulation.

Unfortunately, aside from the OpenTTD (Open Transport Tyconn Deluxe) project which started 2004, no new business simulation game which provided a similar gameplay experience or improved the game mechanics used in Transport Tycoon got developed since then. OpenTTD is based on the original Transport Tycoon Deluxe and received various improvements throughout its community driven development, but still uses the same 2D isometric graphics.

Transport Fever

Transport Fever

On 8. November 2016, about 22 years after the release of the original game, Transport Fever got released. Transport Fever provides a similar gameplay but streamlines important functions such as building infrastructur as well setting up lines, and provides a beautiful 3D environment. Although I have not played the game a lot since it was released, it immediately brought back great memories of playing the old Transport Tycoon.

Finally, the long wait has come to an end!

Finding of the week #191

Measuring the distracting effects of loud noises using computer games

During my ongoing literature review I often discover interesting facts about things I’ve never thought about. Sometimes I can connect these facts with my own observations: The result is mostly a completely new idea why things are as they are. Maybe these ideas are new to you, too. Therefore I’ll share my new science based knowledge with you!

This week: This time, I think about the results of a small experiment I did in order to measure the distracting effects of loud noises coming from a nearby construction site using computer games.

Over a year ago, I wrote about the need for a quiet and comfortable workspace in order to work efficiently. Unfortunately, since I wrote this article, the loud noise caused by the workers right in front of my door has not subsided. As there is no way to actually stop them from doing what they do, I started to think about ways to measure the negative effects of the noise on my concentration using computer games.

After a short requirement analysis I came to the conclusion that I need to play a game that constantly demands my full concentration in order to be played successfully. Also, the game needed to be repeatable in order to allow for a comparison of the results. A game that perfectly meets those requirements is DiRT Rally as the gameplay of this rally simulation demands a player’s full concentration in order to drive the virtual rally cars at their limits and to comprehend the calls of the co-driver. Furthermore, DiRT Rally provides different short rally stages that can be repeated in custom events thus allowing for a direct comparison of a player’s performance.

In the end, I created a custom event consisting of four different rally stages belonging to the Sweden Rally in order to reduce the training effects due to the needed repetition. Subsequently, I completed the custom event while the workers were causing the noise and after the work hours when my concentration was not affected by their work.

The results of this experiments were stronger than I expected as, on average, I was 10% slower while my concentration was affected by the noise. In addition, I made more mistakes while I was subjected to the noise.

As a conclusion, the experiment’s results indicate that loud noises and potentially other distracting effects significantly reduce and disrupt a person’s concentration. Also, the results suggest that my work performance throughout the last year was permanently reduced due to the loud noises of nearby house building activities.

Lastly, I found it very interesting to observe that even very immersive activities such as playing computer games were significantly affected by distracting effects like loud noises.

Finding of the week #190

Paris Agreement Enters Into Force

During my ongoing literature review I often discover interesting facts about things I’ve never thought about. Sometimes I can connect these facts with my own observations: The result is mostly a completely new idea why things are as they are. Maybe these ideas are new to you, too. Therefore I’ll share my new science based knowledge with you!

This week: This time, I think about the fact that the Paris Agreement was ratified by 55 countries that account for at least 55% of global emissions and has entered into force.

Last year, on 12 December 2015, the Paris Agreement was adopted by consensus by all of the 196 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) member parties. The UNFCCC member parties agreed to take action against global warming by reducing their CO2 emissions in order to limit global warming to well below 2°C on average. About 11 months later, on 4 November 2016, the Paris Agreement entered into force, thus setting a strong signal to globally act on climate change as the agreement had to be ratified by 55 countries that account for at least 55% of global emissions before.

Reason 1

We do have the power to save the world.

Although this is a huge step forward towards a carbon free society, it is just the beginning. Now, as the Paris Agreement has entered into force, we need to take action and start to come up with solutions and ways in order to reduce our emissions. Unfortunately, the pact mostly consists of aims and not firm commitments as well as many items that are just voluntary and not binding. Therefore, it is even more important to continue to dicuss global warming in order to rise the awareness for this global problem.

Nature.

Nature.

It is critical that people all over the world realize the urgency to act now to save our Pale Blue Dot and to keep the Earth a beautiful place for future generation. As this is a global problem, it can only be solved when we start to work together. We as inhabitants of our planet need to urge our leaders that we want to step away from fossil fuels and reduce human-made emissions. The power lies in our hands as we can put pressure on our leaders as well as the industry to come up with innovations for an environmental friendly future.

When we help the movement around the Paris Agreement to gain momentum then 4 November 2016 can become a historic day on which the world has changed and the Paris Agreement truely has turned into „a message of life“.